Doubts on night opening for Stafford Hospital A&E

There are "no guarantees" Stafford Hospital's accident and emergency department will reopen overnight in October as planned, a meeting heard.

Bosses said the calibre of applicants for vacant middle-grade doctor positions which must be filled by the deadline had so far been poor.

And chief executive Lynn Hill-Tout told members of the hospital trust board that reopening A&E round the clock when it was unsafe to do so would be the "final nail in the coffin" for the hospital.

The news comes as the trust which runs the hospital today confirmed an investigation had been launched into a complaint, after a woman was allegedly told her baby was dead only for a scan to later find it was healthy.

The uncertainty over the reopening of A&E emerged when board members quizzed bosses over the failure to re-open A&E in June, as had been planned.